


Little One- Life goes on

by Demondogweed



Series: No Happily Ever After- Azure's story [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Depression, F/F, Feral Gems (Steven Universe), Found Family, Healing, Short Stories, speciecism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2020-10-10 11:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20527463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demondogweed/pseuds/Demondogweed
Summary: Snippets of life of the Diamond family on Earth and all the issues arising from living in transitory times.





	1. Humans songs are brass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue tries to sing a lullaby. It goes poorly.
> 
> Azure in 2-ish in this chapter.

Getting Azure to settle down was, even for a diamond ( and a Spinel) quite a task. But somehow, Blue had managed to get her furball of a child to lie in Spinel’s lap. To the noble diamond, the playmate gem stood as an untarnished memento of Pink. Yes, she had tried to destroy the Earth, but everyone had at that point.

There was still something to do to get Azure to sleep. A lullaby, something calming for both young gems. Steven’s sire had borrowed some books for her just for that. Blue flipped open a page, humming the notes for a bit before singing.

_“Hush little baby don’t say a word,_  
mama’s gonna buy you a  
…mockingbird?” she sung, stopping as her gem processed just what she had sung. Why would a human give a wild bird to a child?

Oh well, humans were strange.

_“If that mocking bird don’t sing,_  
mama’s gonna buy you a…diamond… ring? Really?” she paused again, looking over the lyrics more carefully now. She could hear stifled chuckles from Spinel.  
“That is gruesome, isn’t this supposed to be a children’s song” Blue muttered.

_“If that diamond ring turns brass_ (what? using alchemy?),  
_Mama’s gonna buy you a looking glass,_  
If that looking glass gets broke,  
Mama’s gonna buy you a billy goat (again with the animals..),

_If that billy goat get cross_ (yes, by stars, let’s buy a child an aggressive animal),  
_Mama’s gonna buy you a rocking horse_ (thank the stars),  
_And if that rocking horse turns over,_  
Mama’s gonna buy you a dog named Rover (or lift up the horse, maybe?)  
_And if that dog named Rover won’t bark_ (this is an issue?),  
_Mama’s gonna buy you a horse and a cart _(why?)

_And if that horse and cart fall down,  
You’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town”_

Through her singing, Spinel went from quiet chuckles to full-on laughter, Azure joining in with giggles. Blue looked at the two, feeling a warmth in her gem. Even if the song was strange and had worrisome subjects, it had brought joy to the two children.

Children. -Her- children. Blue couldn’t help but hug the two, Azure quickly clinging to her robe. Before yawning widely.  
“You are a little too sleepy to stay up, Azzy. Let’s get you to bed” she stated, standing. Spinel jumped on her shoulders, weighting nothing to the diamond. Blue supposed to a human such closeness would have been disgusting. But gems carried one another all the time, as was proper.

Getting Azure off her robe was always a struggle, but she managed to place the girl in her crib. Spinel leaned over her shoulder to look at the hybrid.  
“You want me to watch ‘er, momma?” she asked with a grin. Blue patted Spinel’s head.  
“Yes, make sure she is without nightmares,” she said.

As Spinel settled around Azure like some sort of serpent, Blue smiled wider.  
“And you too, Spinel” she added.

Later, Yellow did not believe a word about the song being true. Even after Blue had shown her the page.


	2. Idol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yellow Diamond thinks on Azure's idolization of her.
> 
> Azure is around 14 in this chapter.

The moment Azure had learned to speak, she had wanted to use her words. The moment she had learned to walk, she had wanted to move like her. The moment she understood her claws were a threat, she hid them like she did.  
  
Yellow Diamond was used to admiration, but the wide eyed admiration of her daughter was different. The girl had not even seen Homeworld and had only known the rebels and tattered remains of the Authority. She had so many options for a role-model, but she still chose her and not Blue.  
  
Just like Pink had.  
  
But Pink had lived in a different world, with different values. She had formed the rebels, she had made the Earth into a safe place for gems who did not fit in. Pink had rejected Yellow's lessons.  
  
Would Azure reject her, too? Would she turn on all that Pink had created and become cold like White? Like her?  
  
Yet the girl still followed her, begging to learn how to fight and survive. Not conquer, not dominate nor kill. Just fight so she could fit in among the rebels. Yellow was her idol, splattered in blood as she was.  
  
Why her? Why not Blue who actually understood Earth culture? Why not Steven? Yellow deserved none of this idolization.  
  
Azure was currently training with a dummy. It was safer than with a pearl or a quartz. Azure was a diamond after all.   
  
She had to be honest, she had promised Steven she'd be.  
"Azure, come here" she said, curt and to the point. The girl loped to her, panting but smiling widely. Her damaged fang poking over her lip like a bad memory. Another reminder the pebble was never going to fit in among humans.  
"Yes, mother?" Azure asked, wiping sweat from her brow.  
  
"You do understand that what I am is not worth admiring, what I did would make me a criminal in the eyes of humans?" Yellow asked, trying her best to not let show her nervousness.  
"But you aren't! You love rules!" Azure declared, looking rather confused now.  
"That is not what I meant, Azure. I am not worth this idolization you decided on" Yellow snapped back, baring her fangs a bit. That made Azure pause.  
  
"Did aunt Pink say that?"  
  
Yellow shook a bit, but did not reply. She did not move an inch, trying to figure out how to explain to Azure why Pink did what she did. How all the words they exchanged were full of vitriol and judgement. How it all made her fake her-  
  
"Well I think she is wrong! You're so brave and you protect us and the Earth. Even if you weren't born here" the hybrid snapped back, trying to stand taller than her. She was catching up height quickly, but currently Azure only managed to stare at her gem intently.  
  
"Mop, that isn't what I mean. I do that -because- I tried to destroy it once" Yellow tried to explain, but the blue haired fluffball cut her off once more.  
"But you are protecting it, you still stay here with us. I think it is enough. Steven thinks it is enough!" Azure declared and took hold of her hand. Gloved hand to gloved hand, when she could be proud of her claws. Yellow took hold of Azure's hand, pressing it a bit.  
"You shouldn't hide your claws, Mop. There is no reason to mimick me" she stated.  
"I live among humans, mother. They legit fear big predators, which we are. I'm hiding 'cause I know they already think I'm a freak"  
  
Yellow's mind went to the place of anger at first, how DARE the humans think her daughter as a freak. But reality reminded itself on her, humans barely got along with different looking humans. Let alone half-extraterrestials. Azure had lost the battle with normalcy the day she was born.  
"You are not off-colour or defective, Azure. You are unique" Yellow said, wincing at her poor use of words yet again.  
"Unique doesn't get me a job, mother. Like, really, I get you don't need to eat or switch clothes, but I'm running out of fittin' ones."  
"Can't you ask Steven? I'm sure he has some he can lend"  
"Mother,uh...don't want to run 'round in star shirts all my life. I got to look, y'know..me?"  
  
Yellow was about to state that Azure should look like her gem-type then, but that train of thought crashed and burned before it hit the station. Every diamond looked different, that was true. But Azure was an unique case in that she technically was another blue diamond.  
"We could try getting you a dress, like Blue" Yellow suggested.  
"Eugh, no. Mum can pull a dress off, not me"


	3. Legacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue and Garnet discuss about Azure's nature as a person.
> 
> Takes place after chapter 8 of the main work.

Beach City was a tourist trap. It had taken far longer than dignified for Blue to understand that while it was -a- trap, it was not a physical one.  
  
Instead, the city came alive in the warmer rotations (summer by human terms) to attract and take the money from any tourist visiting it. This was underhanded and most likely would have been criminal on Homeworld, but humans were obligate omnivores and their lifestyle reflected that.  
  
For the local youths, this meant a lucrative source of money as part-time workers at Funland. For those of the gem persuasion, this meant work as hired muscle. Azure had taken to the tradition, joining the quartzes and other physical gems each summer to haul things around.  
  
Only, this time, Blue had decided to follow her to the pier.   
"Mum, I really don't need yer support, everyone will laugh" Azure muttered, adjusting her sunglasses and gloves. The less she looked like a gem the more human contact she could have.  
"Oh Azzy, I'm just here to enjoy the sea air and watch people. I'll be no burden for you" Blue stated with a smile. Azure slouched further, until she saw a group of quartz and ran for them without giving Blue a word of goodbye.  
  
It didn't really matter, the less of a 'diamond' Azure was the more she fit in among the regular gems. Blue smiled and sat down on a bench, enjyoing the sea air and the utter lack of any noisy humans snapping at her to chase her off. They didn't want gems around, or wanted to benefit from gem-tech without paying for it. Fracking by injectors had not been a pleasant proposal to witness.  
  
"She hasn't turned cold" Garnet noted, watching as Blue jumped off the seat and stood bristled on top of it. The former matriarch gave an annoyed grumble and sat back down.  
"Was there ever a chance for her to? What with you and other Crystal Gems being here" she muttered and smoothed her hair.  
"Yes, she could have gone bitter. She could have turned hateful. She could have seen us as wrong" Garnet listed placidly, her expression neutral.  
"S-Garnet, she isn't -me.- How could she go bitter when she has known only your ways?" Blue countered, lifting a brow at Garnet.  
  
The second-in-command of the Crystal Gems and her had never gotten along. They would never get along, the mutual dislike of Sapphire and Blue was too deep and too personal. Tolerance was the best they could do.  
"No, she isn't you. She proved that at the Temple"  
"So why do you still treat her like she is?!"  
  
Blue hadn't meant to snap like that, even though she didn't feel guilty over it. She was a diamond in Era 3, no more snapping at lower gems from them.  
"Sapphire still remembers what it used to be like. The Court, the laws, the predictions and the coldness. She remembers when you were like Azure, desperate for friends and thinking Sapphire and Lapis Lazuli were yours" Garnet spoke, her voice digging up deep resentment from her gem. Blue grimaced visibly at that, pupils narrowed.  
"Don't you dare compare my daughter to someone like that. I've done my all so she doesn't turn out like I did, she will -not- grow cold or bitter"  
  
"Hey mum, chief, what's upooohillbegoingnow"  
  
Garnet grabbed the fleeing hybrid by the shoulder, stilling her.  
"You hide your marks to work with those you should rule. I know you are ashamed of them, even though no one would care" she stated coldly.  
"You care, chief, you an' the rest of the Crystal Gems. 'Sides, got no gem, don't rule anything" Azure stated, head bowed low. Garnet patted her on the back.  
"You're a good kid, Azure"  
  
The fusion left as enigmaticly as she arrived, leaving Azure staring in the distance with a confused frown.  
"Stars was that?" she asked no one, before looking at her mother. Blue seemed to still stew on her resentment, even if she tried to hide it by holding her claws in her fist.  
"Mum, uh.. at ease? Chief's just like that"


	4. Best Friends Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spinel thinks of her relationship with Azure and how hard life often is for those like her.
> 
> WARNING: Includes discussions of anxiety.

The diamondling was still small, smaller than a ruby and it looked so vulnerable. Spinel lifted it with ease, it didn't even weight much. It giggled at her, trying to swat her other hand with its claws.  
  
"You are... all right with this?" Spinel asked the Noble Diamond. Blue Diamond smiled a tired smile at her.  
"You deserve a place and Azure needs a playmate. I know you can be that for her"  
  
  
It started as it did once with Pink, they played tag and laughed. Azure was ever mindful of her teeth and claws, but she could match Spinel easily with her energy.  
  
But she grew fast, each year growing bigger and stronger. Would the same repeat with Azure? Would she just leave her one day?  
  
It didn't happen, instead there came the nightmares, the skittishness and the frayed nerves. Where Azure once was cheerful, suddenly she jumped at every shadow and her once happy smile turned into a crooked frown. Spinel spent hours easing the stressed hybrid's mind, trying to make her life just a bit brighter.  
  
It was permanent, said the medic. It came from her gem or the lack of it. So Spinel doubled her efforts. Azure laughed, even as she grew bigger and the shadows grew longer in her eyes. Even as she became stronger and more and more like a diamond, she still played tag. It took her mind off the stress, she said.   
  
But the games changed, from a friendly tag to combat training. Spinel ran (and bounced and slithered) circles around the slower diamond, all while Yellow Dia-No, Mother watched. Giving suggestions, correcting postures. Telling Azure to make her strikes count and wait. She did, she got good at it too. Spinel was fast, but Azure could still catch part of her, and pull her down. Never with force, always mindful.  
  
It made any combat training among the CGs a riot, as Azure dodged the most certain attacks with ease. Yet the so-called rebels of freedom looked at Azure doing her very best and scoffed. Spinel would have been angry, Azure only took it as a challenge.  
  
The harder the CGs pushed her to prove herself, the harder the hybrid worked.  
  
Her hands were calloused, she no longer stood tall. Whatever was tearing the hybrid apart was serious.  
  
Then a mob attacked the Temple and Azure was thrown out from whatever a school was. Discarded by her species outright like trash. Spinel could more than relate.  
  
"It ain't fair what they did to ya, Az. Why are ya putting yerself down so much" she asked Azure, trying to not look at the temple grounds too hard. She could still see cracks here and there.  
"'Cause I'm tryin' to be a good diamond an' a crystal gem. How can I be a good diamond now?" Azure stated as she hid her hackles under her scarf.   
"Mum is... mum, I dunno how mother'll take it" she added with a snarl. Only to be lifted like a sack of rocks.  
"Well I'M taking it like this" Spinel stated, plopping the hybrid into the sea for a bath. There was a lot of splashing and soon a soaked Azure ran towards her, looking like a sea monster. Spinel burst into laughter and ran.  
"My phone was in my pocket, you little shit!" Azure called out after her.  
  
Yes, maybe the world would never accept her or her family. But at least they would accept each other.  
  
As long as Azure didn't catch her right now.


	5. Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My take on the 'Blue has a leg injury' trope.
> 
> WARNING: includes mentions of blood and gore and death.

To show weakness was to invite predators upon you. To expose your injuries was paramount to suicide on some planets.  
  
Like with everything, there was a loophole to this. Maybe an actual injury was never to be shown, but a faked one could make those seeking better targets to overlook you. Like a glitch in a program, exposed injury meant weakness most rather not bother with.  
  
Exposed weakness on a diamond? Oh, that was just precious. No one dared to hurt a diamond, after all. It was just sad that her gem would have been damaged somehow. Burdens of leadership and all that.   
  
Even if the injury was faked, practised over centuries to look convincing and painful.   
  
Lying was something that Blue was good at. She adored honesty, but survival on Homeworld under White often meant knowing what fact reveal and what to leave out. Yellow could take punishment after punishment like the good punching bag she was, Blue knew better.  
  
White lied to them too, after all.  
  
The drag of her leg, the painful push forward and the subtle wince. Not enough to show weakness, oh no. Just enough that a 'clever' person could read it.  
  
Despite Steven's insistence that humans were nicer, Blue had learned otherwise. Humans, too, looked for weakness. Humans, too, overlooked those visibly injured. Among them, Blue had learned to lean on a cane. Pretend her hip and knee hurt oh so much. Despite not existing at all.  
  
It was disarming, like a smile. If she was just an injured diamond among the crowd of perfection, her status as a diplomat made sense. After all, sending the weakest of the bunch to a backwater planet was a powerplay in itself. Humans didn't see her as a threat, forgetting where she stood on the symbol.  
  
Blue limped home from a meeting, letting her pained leg fall down each painful step carefully. She was rather focused on her charade, enough that she missed rustling behind her. Or maybe it was the lack of Pearl next to her, catching these sounds.  
  
Something sharp pushed into her back, no sound indicating an attack. The blade sunk in just a bit before breaking. It gave Blue enough time to whirl around to stare at her attacker.  
  
Dressed in all black and nothing more than a blob of black, it drew another knife. Maybe it wanted to get at her gem? Such waste of time was rewarded by claws digging into the human's front and lifting it like a ragdoll.  
  
Blue pressed the human against an alley wall, supporting its weight with ease. If it had been Yellow, that human would have been shredded, Steven would have just used his shield and stars knows what White would have done. This unfortunate wretch had Blue to contend with. Glowing eyes, bared fangs and sharp claws would surely enter its nightmares.  
  
If it lived past this.  
  
"Who sent you?" Blue asked, lifting the human's head so she could stare it where its eyes would be. No answer, but no gurgling either. Blue shook the human a bit.  
"I ask, once more, who sent you?" she repeated, voice not lifting. Not yet.  
  
"Ffuck you ufos! You know who!" the human rasped, trying to get off from her claws. Blue sighed and pressed them deeper.  
"Well, you are in luck. I am going to let you a chance to run for your employer. Tell him to stop bothering my family, or I will have some very pleasant words with the press. Would that be all right?" she asked, feeling like she was channelling White. Not that it wasn't hard, White was the master at putting gems down with words alone.  
  
A kick to her 'injured' hip, a hard one. Blue didn't wince. The human almost screamed as she brought her free hand down on the human's neck.  
  
It took a while to drag the human to a medic, especially with her limp. Killing was not something allowed anymore, but a roughing up? Steven had done worse himself.  
  
Once the unconscious human was disposed of in the care of the medics, Blue limped away as nothing had happened.   
  
Chasing off pests was, after all, just part of life.


	6. Our place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yellow and Blue clean their yard and think on their life on Earth.

Beach City was on the southern edge of the continent, which meant it did not suffer from the extreme changes to weather anything northern did. However, Yellow could see the leaves of their fruit tree slowly turning to her colours. The former tyrant groaned and started digging the shed for a rake.  
  
"Time to do yard work, huh?" Blue asked, leaning on the shed's wall in a way only Blue could.  
"The black-hole season of everything dying is upon us once more, I need to make sure it doesn't fill our yard with rotten things again" Yellow grumbled, spinning the rake in her hands with ease. She remembered fondly when Azure and Spinel had 'duelled' with garden tools like they were trying to spar.  
"Nevermind the ice age, the snow is a pain to keep from filling everything" she continued to grumble.  
"You could just ask someone of your court to do it if it such a bother. Or, we -do- have two nearly grown gems around, they could do it"  
  
Yellow rolled her eyes as she began raking to leaves next to the fence.  
"Ugh, my court has better things to do than clean a yard and you know the two would just make up a game and end up destroying something" she stated plainly.  
"And I don't see -you- helping" she added, listening to Blue laugh behind her.  
"Got me there"  
  
Blue soon joined her in cleaning up the yard, taking the fruit from the tree and putting it into a basket. Despite her complaining, Yellow felt comfortable just doing this manual task. It was so simple yet it let her mind wander freely.  
"I think I understand why humans do this" she stated, kicking rest of the leaves into a neat pile.  
"It is something that is predictable but changing. Like some sort of ritual of the season", she mused as she looked at Blue. Unlike her, she seemed to enjoy every change and every new thing that came along on Earth. Though human ways brought them both overheated gems, Blue had made herself a place among the leading humans.  
"Yes, nothing stays still here and nothing is the same twice. No wonder Pink lost track of time while living here" Blue said, looking wistfully at the grey sky. Yellow hugged her from behind, trying her best to offer comfort. Pink's death still hurt, the wound was scarred over but moments like this brought the pain back.   
  
"She would have lost it seeing you be so concerned over plants and a house, too" Blue chuckled and Yellow groaned against her hair.  
"It is MY yard, it is MY house. I have spent cycles keeping it in order, why shouldn't I care?" she asked, despite knowing the answer well.  
"It is home, you mean" Blue answered for her. The idea that Earth was anything but a mess to Yellow was a lie. But it wasn't this planet that mattered, it was the gems here and their place. Steven and his family, some older fighters living in Little Homeworld, Blue, Azure and Spinel. After aeons of nothing but unfeeling progress, cleaning a yard was rewarding. It meant something more than yet another way to please White. If she left them to rot, they would reek and create a mess. Especially the fruit, eugh.  
  
"I am happy you feel like that" Blue stated, closing her eyes and leaning against Yellow. Just a quiet moment between the two of them at peace.  
  
It was worth the snow and ice.


	7. Useless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lemon (Yellow Pearl) has issues with the way things are.

In terms of shit jobs she had ever had to do for he-Yellow, Lemon supposed that being a babysitter to a full-grown gem had to be the worst one. All she was doing was soaking up the rays of the sun with Berry, while the bottom half of a spinel was perched on the rocks. The rest of it deep underwater.

Well, it wasn't the worst job, but it was boring to be once again a still thing while the 'important' gems did all the work.

At least they had the sun to recharge in.

The peace was broken up by something clawing its way to the surface, dragging itself onto the rocks like a wild organic.   
"Gaah got it!" Azure the hybrid announced, lifting up a bag of what seemed to be weird flat stones. The Spinel returned its body to sensible proportions and cheered. Of course, it did, what else was a Spinel good for?

(Berry had often told her this mentality of hers was not very Era 3 friendly. Lemon didn't care, as long as she played along everything was fine.)

"Well, now that you have got your... rocks, I assume me and Berry can leave to do some real work" Lemon stated, ignoring Berry's murderous glare. Azure sighed deep, not even looking her correct height.  
"Look, mother gave you a break. Those are a thing, remember?" she noted, offering Lemon one of the stones.  
"An' these are oysters, not rocks. Food to eat"

Lemon rolled her eyes, grabbing the 'oyster' like it was a, well, a slimy organic thing.  
"I was created to serve, hybrid, I have done so since your mother got me. Taking breaks means you cannot keep up with the Court" she stated, noticing a small opening in the oyster. She pushed her finger in it, feeling the thing slowly open.  
"Methinks the pearl protest too much" the Spinel stated, causing Berry and Azure to burst into laughter. Lemon growled and -cracked- the oyster in two.  
"Laugh all you want, but I have the best record out of my Court in finishing my task in a timely manner! AND running one of Homeworld's best talk shows. What do -you- have?" Lemon challenged as the grabbed something small from the guts of the oyster to hold.  
"Not a stick up my gem?"

Lemon huffed, looking at the thing she was holding more closely now. It was a small bright thing that reflected light in a strange pearlescent way.  
"Eww, sorry Lemon. Didn't know it had a pearl in it" Azure stated, pushing past the spinel to take the tiny thing from Lemon.  
"This is a pearl? It has no life and is defective in its form" Lemon stated, looking it over closer. It DID look sort of like the Renegade Pearl's gem, if only lifeless.  
"Yeah, that is what they look here. Not really gems, more like just nacre over a stone that the oyster swallowed" Azure explained, trying to get the pearl from Lemon. Lemon chuckled and lifted the dead pearl higher.  
"I'm keeping this. Don't organics wear skins of other organics too?" she challenged.  
"Yeah, but like, not of their own species. Unless they are sickos" 

Whatever a sicko was, Lemon didn't care. There was a small joy in showcasing her higher rank over the hybrid. That she was older, smarter, faster. Just like he-Yellow had wanted her to be. That she was a true gem of her court, despite Era 3's freedoms.  
"'Sides, I need it. Anythin' non-food is going to be studied" Azure stated, offering her open palm for Lemon.  
"It won't affect me, hybrid. Maybe you and your kind" Lemon grinned and looked at Berry. The blue gem was giving her a death glare under her hair.  
"Can you stop playing, Lemon? She is still a diamond and her request is fair" Berry stated, offering a smile at Azure. The hybrid nodded shyly back.

"So yer just gonna run 'round with that thing, huh, Leatherface?" the spinel piped up, chuckling.  
"It isn't a -gem-, just something similar to us" Lemon stated, ignoring the eyeroll.  
"Yeah, not a gem 'cause it ain't a rock. Doesn't mean it's not a -pearl-, though" Azure stated, shrugging and lifting the bag of oysters over her shoulder.  
"But if you really want to creep others, guide ya, I guess" the hybrid grumbled and headed up the cliff. The spinel followed her, not before doing a strange revving gesture at Lemon, though.

Berry was quick to yell at her once the young gems had disappeared.  
"Why do you act like that!? You know better than bully her" Berry hissed at Lemon.  
"Maybe it is easy for -you- to tolerate your diamond being here, but I can't! Yellow is wasting time here with that..that.. thing. Like she was new Pink Diamond or something. And then there's the abyss-born TOY she treats like a child too. It's disgusting!" Lemon let out. She didn't care if others heard, she had met her limit with this charade her diamond was so insistent on living. Breathing unneeded breaths, Lemon looked at the dead pearl in her hand.  
"We are better than this, Berry. We are better than them" she stated, putting the tiny thing in her gem.

What better sign of Earth than that pearl, dead and small and utterly useless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a general note, I'm not trying to make Azure into a sad woobie. Gemkind just has very little room for those like Azyre and some gems cannot accept the world changing as quickly as it has. But you'll notice that even Lemon has learned to appericate having a name.


	8. Just an Accident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pip thinks on what power a diamond holds over other gems.

The cold and seeping feeling would sometimes strike Pip around Azure. Even if the diamondling tried her best to hide her teeth and claws, Pip knew.

She knew more than any gem what a diamond could do.

She did not want to remember Pink like that, that was not a pleasant memory to end on.

But it was the last she ever saw of her diamond.

Pip could feel her anger even before they got into her room, she could see Pink's hackles lifting even under her clothing. Her hands twitched, trying hard not to tear through the fabric of her gloves with her claws.

The door couldn't be slammed, but it did its best imitation as the two gems entered the room. Pip looked around the room, the pebbles had all dispersed.

It was just her and Pink Diamond here.

"My diamond, I-"  
"RAAARRRRRRRGHHH"

Pip slammed against the wall, she had been in the way, she knew it. She panted from pain, looking up at Pink.

She only saw a blur of something pink and felt as something sharp cut through her face. Pip screamed, her eye glitched as it tried to reform. She could hear panting above her.

With her right eye, Pip saw Pink. Her pupils were blown wide, fangs exposed, hackles lifted and her claws out. Her right hand was dripping something. Pip's face was dripping something to the floor.

She was a prey, she was cornered. Pink was a predator, ready to strike down her prey. Pip's consciousness faded slowly. From pain? From shock?

"Oh no, Pearl...oh stars, I'm sorry I'm sorry"

Then she awoke 8000 years later, her eye gone and Pink equally dead. They tried to heal her face, tried to fix it. But there was no fixing it when the scars came from the memory.

Of Pink, standing above her. Ready to strike.

Pip knew Pink had changed from there, learned to control her anger and her rage. She had become better before her death. Her fellow diamonds had always known to hide their claws.

Even little Azure.

But she could never hide what she was, what she could do. Not from Pip, not anymore.

A predator was always a predator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember these are -feral- diamonds that have instincts of domestic felines. Pink did not intend to hurt Pip but reacted on instinct.


End file.
